Goa sank into a sullen silence as Mapusa MLA and former Dy Chief Minister Francis D’Souza breathed his last on Thursday. A glorious political journey of grit, determination and commitment came to an end. A minority face that stood out in the midst of saffron hues lay still.
From his early career as a young lawyer, D’Souza rose to be become the man of the masses for Mapusa and a minority face of the BJP government. His hunger to move up the ladder was evident in his political moves from Goa Rajiv Congress Party to the Sharad Pawar-led NCP and then the short stint with the Congress before finally settling down with the saffron party. Winning the Mapusa seat for five consecutive terms -- 1999, 2002, 2007, 2012 and 2017, a couple of times with record margins, speaks volumes of the mass acceptance he had across all sections. Superimpose this against the track record of some of the recent MLAs who have been rejected soon after the first term.
The biggest strength of D’Souza was his easy-going please-all attitude, a trait which held him in good stead throughout his stint with the BJP. His mantra of taking everyone along struck the right chords even in the Opposition camps. But ‘please-all’ also has its fallouts and could possibly be one of the reasons why Mapusa lagged behind in development. Yet, D’Souza chose to defy all odds and walk the people’s talk.
The biggest challenge of his career was defending the BJP at a time when there was an anti-minority wave building up across the country, including Goa. It was a time when minorities taking BJP sides were virtually considered blasphemous. Religious sentiments were playing heavily in the background as BJP covertly played the Hindutva card. He touched a raw nerve in August 2014 when he spoke about being a Christian Hindu. “Hindu culture is in existence since past 5000 years and I sincerely revere it; therefore, what is wrong if I say that I am a Christian Hindu. I am a Christian but my culture is Hindu”. These lines could spell disaster for any legislator. But D’Souza was quick to apologize and make amends. It required great hardihood to come up with a statement like that given the sensitive socio-political background. But D’Souza stuck his neck out to defend his party against all communal overtures.
From a Deputy Leader of the Opposition under Manohar Parrikar, to a Deputy Chief Minister under Laximikant Parsekar, D’Souza remained a loyal BJP soldier putting up a brave front in a Hindu-dominated constituency. However, the turning point came after the 2014 elections. Parrikar was moved to the Centre as Defence Minister and D’Souza, despite being a Dy CM and a natural claimant to the CM’s chair, lost out to Laxmikant Parsekar. Once again D’Souza was quick to shrug off the initial melancholy and show uncanny calm.
The worst was yet to come. Late in his career he was unceremoniously dropped from the cabinet while undergoing treatment for colon cancer in New York. It is here, D’Souza started opening out about how there was hate building up against him within a section of the BJP. The cracks began to show. He started raising questions over his nearly 20-year dedicated service to the party. Quitting as an MLA could have spelt doom for his party at this juncture. Battling his ailment on one side D’Souza held on as usual and took all the odds in his stride. He remained a loyal party soldier till his last breath. For his charisma, easy-going and friendly nature of being a true man of masses, D’Souza leaves an indelible imprint on Goa’s political landscape.
